So. I have a friend who was asking if I could cure and smoke hams for her without nitrates. All the research I've done alludes to nitrates being in commercial hams but no hint as to they'd be in a home-cured product.

I was wondering if (with a typical recipe) I'd get nitrates in my hams or if there's a specific curing salt that I should avoid to avoid the nitrates.

Also this probably makes a difference but they'd be butchering their own organic piggies for these hams.

There's no rush for this since they don't even have their first squealers yet but any help would be appreciated!

I'll keep researching too and once I find info I'll post for you other curious folk

Even "organic" cured meats that claim to have no nitrates use nitrates. They get away with labeling it that way because they aren't directly adding nitrite or nitrate. Instead they add celery juice which is full of nitrates. Without nitrates it is not cured.

keep researching Magnum...Nitrates are going out of fashion because the difficulty controling the curing process. Cure #2 is a combination of nitrites and nitrates, and is not dependent on bacteria in the meat to start doing it's thing. Oh and they are "all natrual" cemicals as in not man made.

Ah, looks like she did about as much research as I had into this topic before I asked you guys (none) and now that I've done some research and shown her some articles she's coming around. She still isn't big on using a mass-produced curing agent but realizes the importance of it. I on the other hand am fully prepared to do more research and perhaps invest in a piggy of my own to experiment with.

THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS!!!!!! (and perhaps ladies, the internet is so ambiguous)